Flowise pump vs Gould

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Toukow

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I have read here a lot about the various brands of well pumps. I currently have a Gould 33GS30 pump, which has lasted for 15 years. Given the many comments here about the lifespan of modern pumps not being so great, I’m going to do a proactive replacement of the pump.

I have received one quote where the bidder is pushing a Flowise 3HP pump for $3000, and seems reluctant to provide a quote for the Gould model. He says the local Gould distributor is terrible, and he does not want to deal with them.

I find little information on this forum as to the Flowise pumps, or am searching incorrectly. Are they quality units? I would much rather pay up front for the quality if I can, and many of you appear to like the Gould brand. I am reluctant to change horses given I have had pretty good lifespan out of the existing Gould.


Any experiences with the Flowise pumps? Thanks, Toukow
 

VAWellDriller

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Flowise is a private label pump made for and distributed by Preferred Pump. They are a knock of off the Goulds GS line....look very similar and have almost identical pump curves. For all I know they are identical inside. I can't vouch for how long they last....I have only used a few over last 3 or 4 years and haven't had any problems. The Goulds GS line is a great line of pumps....can't say anything bad about them. The Flowise should be significantly cheaper than the Goulds.
 

Boycedrilling

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Most professional pump installers only buy from one or two wholesale distributors in their area. There has been consolidation and changes in ownership of a number of distributors across the USA in the past couple of years. Franklin Electric has purchased at least 4 or 5 wholesale distributors in the water well industry. They determined that was the best way to grow their revenues.

In the Pacific Northwest, this means that the wholesale distributor for Gould’s pumps has changed. Many times the relationship that a dealer has with his distributor is more important that the brands that the distributor carries. Most distributors sell 2 or 3 brands of pumps. I have one distributor that I buy 90% of my materials from and the remainder from another distributor. I have accounts at 3-4 others but rarely buy from them. I can buy just about any brand of pump, but my relationship with my distributor is more important to me than the brand of pump.

My main distributor is Preferred Pump. They have just over 50 branch warehouses across the country. At one time they were Franklin’s largest distributor. They split ways about 5 years ago. Now Preferred sells Berkeley, Grundfos, Flint & Walling, and they have a house brand Flowise, which is a Gould’s clone. They other distributor I use did sell Gould’s until Franklin Electric bought them. Gould’s pulled their product from them and went with a different independent distributor. One of the local installers had really promoted the Gould’s line for the last 30 years. They bought exclusively from that distributor. I have not heard if they switched distributors or changed brands of pumps they install.

I have installed about a half dozen of the Flowise pumps with no callbacks to date.

You need to decide what is more important to you; the brand of pump or the installer.
 

shane21

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Preferred Pump is our main distributor and as Boycedrilling stated they own FloWise pumps and they are, as it was explained to us, a clone of the Goulds expired patents - think Goulds pumps from 15-20 yrs ago. Goulds always made some of the most forgiving pumps in the industry, if not the most efficient, and built their reputation on reliability. For that reason we had no issue trying out the FloWise pumps and have been happy with them. We have sold well over 50 and have seen no more issues with them than any other major pump manufacturer.

Our biggest concern with FloWise was that they were being sold with a Grundfos motor (read Boycedrilling's above post about Preferred Pump and Franklin Electric parting ways) and submersible motors in the residential pump market had been dominated by Franklin Electric for decades until about 10 yrs ago. Anytime a new motor hits the industry most installers are always a bit skeptical because we have seen motor manufacturers come and go with bad products but I'm happy to report the 2-wire Grundfos motors have performed well for us thus far up to 1HP.

I have only used a few of the Grundfos 1.5 HP 2-wire variants and had enough trouble out of those I won't install another one but keep in mind I have only installed 4 of them so my experience with them is limited and I may have just been so unlucky to get a couple lemons.
 

Toukow

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Thanks guys for the educational view from the standpoint of the installer. Makes sense from a business perspective.

As Boycedrilling states ' You need to decide what is more important to you; the brand of pump or the installer.' I'm not finding a ton of information these companies locally, so really, as a consumer, all I know is the pump brand. The original company which installed the Gould is now out of the well pump business, so I'm starting from square one. They have stated a warranty (haven't read the fine print) of five years on the Flo-wise.

It's also a little more complicated than I'm stating here with respect to the pump, which I will elaborate in my post on the drop pipe sizing question.

I appreciate your comments, Toukow
 

Boycedrilling

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Most pump manufacturers have a 5 year warranty to installers on pumps and motors.. The installers then extend that warranty to the consumer. However the standard warranty is only 18 or 36 months. To receive the extended 5 year warranty you have to sign up as a certified dealer AND purchase multiple pumps. Depending upon the installers relationship with the distributor, they might get things warrantied aren’t strictly considered warranty. Most manufacturers are now only offering 36 month warranties on VFD components. some manufacturers will offer a labor reimbursement to installers if there is a warranty claim in the first 12 months, after that the installer receives a replacement pump end or motor only from the distributor.

The warranty is one of the main reasons installers want to stay with only one or two pump distributors. It’s kind of like car insurance. All agents and insurance companies are the same, until you have a claim. Some make it easy, others don’t,
 
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